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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984333">Photograph</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leafyleaf/pseuds/Sodding_Malfoy'>Sodding_Malfoy (Leafyleaf)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Star Trek Bingo 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode: s01e23 Skin of Evil, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Memories, Photographs, Post funeral, understanding emotions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:49:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leafyleaf/pseuds/Sodding_Malfoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Data and Geordi mourn the loss of their dear friend, Tasha Yar.</p>
<p>Part of the Star Trek Bingo 2020, covering the prompt 'Photographs/Photography.'</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Data &amp; Geordi La Forge &amp; Tasha Yar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Star Trek Bingo 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885774</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Star Trek Bingo Summer 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Photograph</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“How does it feel, when you think about her?”</p>
<p>“Feel?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. What do you feel when you look at these pictures?”</p>
<p>“Geordi, have you forgotten?” He shook his head. “I cannot feel.”</p>
<p>Data sat cross-legged on the floor of his quarters, with Spot sleeping in his lap and his best friend beside him. On the carpet in front of them were five printed photographs of Tasha Yar.</p>
<p>“Of course, I didn’t forget. But you two were close.”</p>
<p>Data ran his fingers through Spot’s fur, just the way he knew she liked it. He knew she liked to be massaged around the neck, because she always began purring and leaning into his touch. It was much more difficult to detect what Data himself liked – or would like, if he had the capacity. He considered introspectively for a moment an eternity to an android but only a fleeting heartbeat for a human. His brow wrinkled, an affectation he had learned from his study of humanoid species that may indicate a thought process being carried out to an unsatisfying or inconclusive end.</p>
<p>“I do not know. Although I do not experience feelings the same way you do, it would be inaccurate to say that I experience no response to these images at all.”</p>
<p>“I miss her,” said Geordi, looking at a picture taken of Tasha at Starfleet Academy. She was gazing straight at the photographer, confident as ever, with a proud smile that showed her teeth and an excited fire in her eyes. Her shoulders were tilted slightly to the right, showing off the pip on her collar that proved that she was a cadet no more, but an ensign. “Sometimes, when I first wake up, it takes me a while to remember she’s gone. I look forward to taking my station, to seeing her on the bridge.”</p>
<p>Data shook his head again. “I am sorry Geordi, but it is not possible for me to forget. I remember her death vividly – I always shall, no matter if I wish to or not – but that does not stop me from desiring her presence.”</p>
<p>“That’s only human,” reassured Geordi, placing a hand on his shoulder.</p>
<p>“You are a dear friend to me, because you treat me as kindly as you would a brother,” Data spoke slowly, “but I am not human.”</p>
<p>Geordi laughed despite himself. “I haven’t forgotten that either, Data. It’s a figure of speech. It means that what you’re going through is normal, and I understand it.”</p>
<p>“Curious.”</p>
<p>“Maybe you’re more human than you give yourself credit for.”</p>
<p>“It is possible,” he admitted with a tilt of his head. “It is illogical for me to know everything about things I cannot experience for myself.”</p>
<p>Geordi looked at another photograph, this one showing Tasha laughing on her 27th birthday. It was the last one she’d ever had. The whole crew had pulled together to arrange it, her first birthday party on a starship. Her birthday cake had been chocolate – at the insistence of Deanna – and handmade, not replicated, in the ship’s mess. </p>
<p>They’d had the same at her wake. Just yesterday, after her funeral, they had stood among their companions, painfully aware that their number was one short, each holding a slice of cake they had no intention of eating. Captain Picard had raised a glass as a toast, and Deanna had begun to cry again at the influx of emotion swelling from the crew. There was nothing worse than losing a friend. They’d known her for less than a year, thinking that they had countless time ahead of them. Her death had served no purpose at all but to remind the crew that life was fragile and the future unknowable.</p>
<p>“I had gotten used to her. Grown accustomed to her. It will take me a long time to stop noticing her absence. I know not if such a thing is possible.”</p>
<p>“Well said, Data. She was a good friend to us all.”</p>
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